Empire Wave

James Adie was a 16 year old cabin boy aboard the Empire Wave. The vessel was on its maiden voyage bound for Nova Scotia to pick up supplies for the war effort when she developed engine problems and left the protection of the convoy. She was about 500 miles from the west coast of Iceland when she was spotted by a German U boat. The U boat torpedoed her just before 0700 HRS and the vessel sank. Half the sixty man crew perished when she sank. the other half boarded a lifeboat and were lost in the Artic sea for 14 days until thet fired there final flair. They were rescued by an Icelandic fishing trawler 'Suprise'. One man died in the lifeboat, 2 others on Iceland, all suffered frostbite and lost body parts.

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